Museum of Jewish Heritage Announces First-Ever Mishpachah Festival

(New York, NY)— The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, JewishGen, LOX, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will present New York’s first-ever Mishpachah Festival: A Celebration of Genealogy, Heritage, & Immigration, on Sunday, May 21, 2023.

The day-long Mishpachah Festival (“Mishpachah” means “family” in Hebrew) – will run from 10:00am to 5:00pm and feature Jewish genealogy lectures, Jewish heritage panels, cooking demonstrations, live music, and activities for children and families. Additionally, experts will be on hand to help attendees research their family histories.

“We are proud to present the inaugural Mishpachah Festival, where we will celebrate and explore Jewish genealogy, heritage, and immigration along with our partners,” said Jack Kliger, CEO and President of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. “There will be insightful lectures and activities for people of all ages, as we open the Museum to welcome our ‘family’ and together discover more about heritage and community.”

The event is held in-person, and some activities will be livestreamed throughout the day. To reserve your spot, visit www.mjhnyc.org/mishpachah-festival. Tickets are free with a suggested $18 donation to the Museum. A full schedule of activities will be posted online in the coming weeks.

The festival will kick off with a special concert featuring musician Joanie Leeds, who won a Grammy Award for her album, All the Ladies, in April 2020. Leeds will be joined by Jeff Litman on the guitar and Andi Rae Healy on ukulele/percussion. For her original kids’ music, the multi-award-winning based singer-songwriter won first place in the USA Songwriting Competition, an Independent Music Award, a Gold Parents' Choice Award, NAPPA Gold Award, Family Choice Award. For the past decade, she has performed songs from her 9 high-energy and interactive albums in dozens of cities across the country at venues and festivals such as Lollapalooza, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, The Smithsonian, CMAs, Hang Out Festival, and the Skirball Cultural Center in LA.

Throughout the day, JewishGen will lead a series of genealogy discussions, and YIVO, HIAS, and The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation will lead other talks. National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek will hold a sing-along and Associate Artistic Director Motl Didner will lead a talk about Yiddish. David Teyf, owner of the Museum’s LOX Café, will lead Jewish cooking demonstrations in the catering kitchen; and organizers will present family-friendly storytelling workshops.

About The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to Never Forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The third-largest Holocaust museum in the world, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of almost 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy.

The Museum’s current offerings include The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do, a major new exhibition offering a timely and expansive presentation of Holocaust history, now on view in the main galleries. Also on view is Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust, featuring photographer Martin Schoeller’s portraits of Holocaust survivors on view through June 18, 2023. Opening this fall is the Museum’s first exhibition for visitors aged 9 and up, Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark, which will bring the lessons of the Holocaust to life through the remarkable story of Danish collective resistance during World War II.

Each year, the Museum presents over 80 public programs, connecting our community in person and virtually through lectures, book talks, concerts, and more. For more info visit: mjhnyc.org/events. Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

For more information, visit: mjhnyc.org

About JewishGen
JewishGen was founded in 1987 and serves as the global home for Jewish genealogy. Featuring
unparalleled access to more than 30 million records, it offers unique search tools, along with
opportunities for researchers to connect with others who share similar interests. There is no charge to
access JewishGen’s resources. JewishGen is an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living
Memorial to the Holocaust. For more information, visit www.jewishgen.org.

About LOX
LOX at Café Bergson showcases a fresh take on traditional Jewish and Russian favorites. Chef and owner David Teyf brings tradition to the forefront, highlighting the natural beauty of his ingredients, just as his grandfather did.

Located on the second floor of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, LOX is situated overlooking New York Harbor. Enjoy spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Hudson River, the Verrazano Bridge, and the Garden of Stones, a landscape artwork created by renowned artist Andy Goldsworthy. LOX is open and free to the public when the Museum is open.

About National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Now entering its 109th season, the Drama Desk Award-winning National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) is the longest consecutively producing theatre in the US and the world's oldest continuously operating Yiddish theatre company. NYTF is in residence at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Zalmen Mlotek and Executive Director Dominick Balletta, NYTF is dedicated to creating a living legacy through the arts, connecting generations and bridging communities. NYTF aims to bring history to life by reviving and restoring lost and forgotten work, commissioning new work, and adapting pre-existing work for the 21st Century. Serving a diverse audience comprised of performing arts patrons, cultural enthusiasts, Yiddish-language aficionados and the general public, the company presents plays, musicals, concerts, lectures, interactive educational workshops and community-building activities in English and Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles accompanying performances. NYTF provides access to a century-old cultural legacy and inspires the imaginations of the next generation to contribute to this valuable body of work. Learn more at https://nytf.org/

About The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is a non-profit that collaborates with the National Park Service in one of America’s most successful public-private partnerships. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan asked Lee Iacocca to head a private-sector, philanthropic effort to raise funds for and oversee the restoration and preservation of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The American people responded enthusiastically, and continue to do so 40+ years later, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to provide support for our mission.

The Foundation’s other major initiatives include creating the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, constructing the Statue of Liberty Museum, maintaining museum exhibits, and funding hundreds more projects on the islands. The organization also developed and manages the free 65-million-record Ellis Island Passenger Database. No government funds have been used by the Foundation for restoration and preservation projects at these national monuments.

Learn about exhibitions and collections, and use online resources to discover your roots and explore your heritage at www.statueofliberty.org.

About YIVO
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is dedicated to the preservation and study of the history and culture of East European Jewry worldwide. For nearly a century, YIVO has pioneered new forms of Jewish scholarship, research, education, and cultural expression. Our public programs and exhibitions, as well as online and on-site courses, extend our global outreach and enable us to share our vast resources. The YIVO Archives contains more than 23 million original items and YIVO’s Library has over 400,000 volumes—the single largest resource for such study in the world.

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